
Industrial Research in Canada 



13 V 



PROFESSOR J. c. Mclennan, ph.d., f r.s , 

Universitv of Toronto. 




An Address to the Members of the Royal Canadian 
Ii^itute, November Fourth, Nineteen Hundred 



In^i|ute, N 

m 



THE U>fIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRES« 

1916 



Industrial Research in Canada 



BY 

PROFESSOR j: c; Mclennan, ph.d., f.r.s., 

University of Toronto. 




An Address to the Members of the Royal Canadian 
Institute, November Fourth, Nineteen Hundred 
and Sixteen. 



^5y*\«v^X<l i^ 



THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS 
1916 






By Trans fc 
APR 4 1924 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada 



INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH IN CANADA. 



To the Members of the Royal Canadian Institute. 

Ladies and Gentlemen: 

Before proceeding with the subject which I have chosen for my 
inaugural address, namely, Industrial Research in Canada, I must first 
of all express to you my appreciation of the high honour you have con- 
ferred upon me in electing me to be your President for the coming year. 
Owing to limitations imposed upon my time I may not be able to 
preside at as many of your weekly meetings as a proper fulfilment of 
my duties demands, but if I fail in this regard, I know that my defici- 
encies will be met by the kind and generous co-operation of our Vice- 
Presidents, Mr. J. Murray Clark and Dr. A. C. McKay, Principal of 
the first Technical Institute of Canada, which has been inaugurated 
recently with such marked success, and which, with good warrant, is 
a source of great pride to us all. In the second place I wish to take 
this opportunity of expressing to our past President, Mr. Frank 
Amoldi,. K.C., our sincere appreciation of his services in emphasizing 
the importance of the functions of the Royal Canadian Institute in 
our midst, in inaugurating a Bureau of Industrial Research in con- 
nection with our organisation, and in stimulating and promoting with 
zeal and patient determination the consideration of matters connected 
with the subject of Industrial Research. 

I also wish on this occasion to give expression to the sense of loss we 
all feel in the death of Dr. George Kennedy, which took place in June 
last. For two years he was President of the Royal Canadian Institute, 
and for thirty years he was the editor of its Transactions. He attended 
the Saturday evening lectures perhaps more regularly than any other 
existing member of our organisation and he took an unfailing and 
helpful interest in everything which had to do with the welfare of the 
Society. He devoted all his hours of recreation to science and the works 
of philanthropy, and on passing away made provision for promoting 
both of these objects, the Institute itself being one of his beneficiaries. 
The memory of his presence with us is one that we shall always cherish, 
and the purity of his aims and the single mindedness with which he 
regulated the conduct of his life will long serve as a model for us all. 



4 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 

I. CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT 

OF INDUSTRIES. 

In dealing with the question of Industrial Research in the brief time 
at my disposal the key note of what I shall have to say will be "The 
Conservation of our Natural Resources, and the Scientific Development 
of our National Industries". 

Agriculture. 

Three of our chief sources of wealth, I may point out, are our agri- 
cultural lands, our cheap electrical power, and our mineral deposits. 
Of these the agricultural industry is by far our greatest national asset. 
The importance of this industry was early perceived by our Govern- 
ments and Legislatures, and due provision has been made already for 
its proper development. Through the agency of the Dominion Experi- 
mental Farms inaugurated by the late Dr. William Saunders and through 
the activities of the Ontario Agricultural College under the Presidential 
guidance of Dr. Mills, and Professor Creelman, as well as by the laudable 
work of the late lamented Dr. C. C. James, great advances have been 
made in the selection of the most suitable seed grains, the best breeds of 
dairy cattle, horses and other farm animals, and vast improvements 
have been made in recent years in the preparation, storage and trans- 
portation of our dairy products. From what has been accomplished so 
far we may safely say that our agricultural industry is now on an emi- 
nently satisfactory basis, and that it is developing on sound lines. Much 
can still be done, however, to ameliorate the disabilities of farm life, by 
improving roads, by increasing facilities for education, by adding to 
the comfort of farm dwellings and the beauty of their surroundings, 
and by a more extensive use of electric power in farm operations. Speak- 
ing generally, too, I may be permitted to say that our agricultural 
lands are not as intensely fertilised as they should be, and production 
is not as much by half as it could easily be by proper treatment of the 
soil. And we have the remedy at hand if we would but use it. The vast 
deposits of calcium, potassium, and phosphate bearing minerals in 
Canada require but to be worked to furnish us with unlimited supplies 
of mineral fertilising agents. Our electrical power, too, can furnish us 
with vast supplies of nitrates if we would but apply it. At Niagara 
Falls, Ontario, already we have in the American Cyanamide Works, an 
industry of some thirty-thousand horse-power capacity in which thou- 
sands of tons of fertilisers made by the extraction of nitrogen from the 
atmosphere are manufactured each year. But the whole of this output 
goes to the covmtry to the south of us, and is used to increase the pro- 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada 5 

duction of the cotton fields of the Southern States. This great industry 
moreover, is owned and controlled by the interests which hold these 
cotton bearing areas, and the output though manufactured by Canadian 
developed power is not available for the fertilisation of our own fields. 
It is but one example of how a large percentage of the electrical 
power developed on the Canadian side of the Niagara River is 
sequestrated. Through lack of enterprise on our part and through 
concessions granted to foreign controlled organisations a large 
proportion of our electrical .power is now diverted from Canada 
and is being used to develop the industries and increase the pro- 
duction and the wealth of our neighbours to the south of us. This 
is not as it should be. And I venture to suggest that if we would con- 
serve one of the greatest sources of our national wealth, we should see 
to it at once that the exportation of electrical power is gradually dimin- 
ished and that it ultimately ceases. This is the policy I may add that 
we have so successfully pursued in conserving our supplies of natural 
gas. We should seek to establish on our own side of the border all 
forms of industry in which electricity and its power capabilities can be 
used. Moreover in this electrical power we should never forget that we 
have at hand especially in what is known technically as the "peak 
load" a supply of energy which could with proper development be used 
to replace the coal which we obtain at ever increasing cost from the 
United States. The time will come, yes, I believe it is near when the 
export af hard coal from the United States to us will cease. We should 
be prepared for this eventuality and should systematically proceed 
to develop to the utmost limit the power capabilities of every fall of 
water throughout the whole length and breadth of Canada. Along 
that path lies national safety and national wealth and prosperity. 
With the example of the successful operation of the central heating 
plant of the University of Toronto before us we see what a simple 
engineering problem it is to heat a large group of widely scattered 
buildings. The whole of the city of Toronto could be readily and 
easily heated from a number of central heating stations just as it is 
now supplied with water and illuminating gas. I venture to suggest 
that steps should be taken immediately to develop this field. We 
could I believe easily heat our towns and cities with the hydraulic 
power which at the present time we are either allowing to go to waste 
or which we are failing properly and efficiently to develop. 

Minerals and Metals. 

On the outbreak of the war it was found that the supply even within 
our Empire, of such metals as zinc, nickel, mercury, and the rarer metals, 



6 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute, [vol. xi 

tungsten, molybdenum, and platinum were largely under the control 
of alien enemies. Vast stocks of these metals had been accumulated 
in alien countries and the treatment of the ores of these metals had 
practically slipped into their hands from our own. 

As an illustration of what I have referred to I may cite the case of 
tungsten. This metal as you may know is largely used for metallic 
filaments of electric lamps and for hardening steel cutting tools. As an 
example of what was going on previous to the war, I may say that the 
whole of the output of Burma went to Germany, and the world was 
dependent on her for a great part of its supply of this metal as well as 
of the alloy ferro-tungsten. Moreover the monazite sands of Travancore 
were controlled by her and she also regulated the price and the output 
of this mineral and the production from it of thorium nitrate, thereby 
controlling also the gas mantle industry. In regard to tungsten, drastic 
and immediate action was necessary in order to meet our requirements 
in carrying on the war but for some extraordinary reason since 1914 
there has been a steady drop in the production of tungsten from Burma. 
In January, 1915, the exports from that country were 232 tons, while 
in January, IQ16, the output diminished to 217 tons. Even when the 
control was in our own hands the influence of the enemy was still felt. 
A number of coolies were sent to Tavoy to meet the requirements but 
still tungsten was not produced in anything like the quantities expected. 
The Government of Great Britain has now, however, sent mining engi- 
neers to supervise production and no doubt the situation will be altered. 
I mention these things to show you into what a pitiable state we had 
fallen through our neglect of matters of vital importance in connection 
with the mineral industries of the Empire. Attention should be drawn 
here to one particular industry which has been developed in Canada 
through the prosecution of the war. For some years Professor T. L. 
Walker and others co-operating with the Geological Survey of Canada 
have made a special study of the deposits of molybdenum ores in Canada 
and as a result of this work the Geological Survey was enabled to point 
out to the metal industries of Great Britain that we had in our midst 
considerable deposits of molybdenum, and that this metal could be used 
largely in place of tungsten in the hardening of steels. But the inform- 
ation fell on deaf ears until the outbreak of hostilities when, with the 
supplies of tungsten largely diminished, a demand arose at once for the 
molybdenum. I am glad to tell you that the production of this metal 
has now become a very important and profitable industry in our country. 

We have been taught the lesson and at a terrible cost that we must 
preserve our metals, first of all for our own use. We have vast resources 
in minerals in Canada, but they will require special treatment. New 



I9i6] Industrial Research in Canada 7 

processes will have to be devised for treating the ores. For example, I 
might cite the case of zinc and phosphorus. We have in British Columbia 
large deposits of zinc ores and of phosphate bearing minerals. It is 
true, we do not know as yet how to treat them economically, but methods 
can and will be devised if we set our hearts on it. There is no reason 
why we should be dependent on other countries such as Germany for 
our supply of such vital commodities. Norway and Sweden have shown 
us what can be done by the application of electricity to the solution of 
such problems and with our extensive waterfalls we have at hand the 
means of producing electricity at the lowest possible cost. Efforts 
should be made to conserve it for our own use and research should be 
directed particularly to the development of its applications in the 
treatment of ores. 

While dealing with the question of metals and minerals it might not 
be out of place to refer here to a movement which has been recently 
inaugurated by The Iron and Steel Institute, The Institute of Metals, 
The Institution of Mining Engineers, and The Institution of Mining 
and Metallurgy of Great Britain for the formation of a central Depart- 
ment of Mines and Metals in Great Britain to protect and advance 
the economic interests of British mining and metallurgical industries 
and to stimulate the development of the mineral resources of the Empire. 
As is well known there are well organised Departments of Mines in 
Canada and in some of the other Dominions but up to the present time 
there has been no Department of Mines in the centre of the Empire. 
In the plans which are being formulated it is proposed that the duties 
of the projected Department of Mines and Metals when established 
should include: 

1. The making of arrangements for expediting the completion of 
mineral surveys of the United Kingdom and of the Crown Colonies and 
other British Possessions. 

2. The systematic collection and co-ordination of information bearing 
on the occurrence, uses and economic value of minerals. Some of this 
information should be promptly and widely disseminated in summarised 
form to those interested in the industries, through the medium of the 
existing publications of the Institutions directly concerned. 

3. The co-ordination and dissemination of information on mining 
laws, development of mineral areas, output, processes of extraction, 
plant, capital employed, markets, etc., etc. 

4. The stocktaking in a general sense of the mineral resources of 
the Empire and the review from time to time of the position of each 
mineral or metal to ensure that the mineral wealth of the Empire is 
being developed and exploited with due regard to imperial interests. 



8 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 

5. Generally to advise the Imperial Government on all questions 
bearing on the mining and metallurgical industries. To perform this 
function efficiently, it is essential that complete information should be 
available and also that the industries concerned should be consulted 
through their respective organisations. 

The institutions to which I have referred have long felt the neces- 
sity for such a Department as that proposed but since the outbreak of 
war and the consequent revelation of the dangerous position into which 
these vital Imperial interests had been allowed to drift, the necessity 
has been demonstrated over and over again. It is not too much to 
assert that if a properly organised and efficiently conducted Depart- 
ment of Mines and Metals had been established in Great Britain much 
valuable time, many lives and vast sums of money would have been 
saved to the Nation in the conduct of the war. 

Departmental Co-operation. 

It is a matter of common knowledge that in the activities of the 
permanent departments of the Governments of the different states con- 
stituting the British Empire there is not the active co-operation that 
should prevail if efficient progress is to be secured. Perhaps I may be 
permitted to cite an example or two of a defect of this kind which was 
recently brought to my attention. The Geological Survey of Great 
Britain as you all know, has a magnificent record to its credit. Its 
operations in the British Isles have been most complete and its reports 
are most voluminous and very exhaustive. It has happened, however, 
that after its reports have been presented to Parliament they have 
been carefully filed away and no special attempt has been made to 
bring their contents in a definite, particularised, and effectively useful 
manner before the industrial organisations of the covmtry. When the 
War broke out it happened that one of the largest refining and reduction 
works in England found their supplies of a particular flux required by 
them in the treatment of their ores entirely cut off. The firm had been 
accustomed to import the flux from mines under the control of one of 
the Central Powers. A representative of the Institution of Mining and 
Metallurgy happening to call on this firm learned of their dilemma, 
and to the chagrin of its members pointed out that the Geological 
Reports mentioned above contained a detailed account of large deposits 
of this particular flux situated in England within 10 miles of their works. 
It is needless to tell you that in a very short time a light railway was 
constructed between the deposits and the works and the firm is 
now rejoiced to find that it can carry on its operations without let or 
hindrance and at a greatly reduced cost. 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada 9 

Again, before the war it was customary for the manufacturers of 
ordinary commercial glass articles to import from Belgium the sand 
used in their manufacture. The loss of this country to the enemy im- 
mediately cut off the supply. Search however was instituted, and it 
was soon found that sand equally suitable existed in large quantities in 
the British Isles. We have heard of the folly of carrying coals to New- 
castle, but it will be difficult to find exaniples of economic folly more 
prodigious than the two which I have cited. 

I might also cite an example of the lack of departmental co-operation 
in our own country. A few years ago it became a matter of considerable 
interest to ascertain if radium bearing minerals existed in deposits of 
any extent in one of the Provinces of Canada. The action which was 
taken in the matter — and I have no doubt that such action was 
taken in good faith and intended for the best — was to offer a 
reward of some $25,000 for the discovery of such minerals in paying 
quantities. Up to the present, I believe, no part of the reward has been 
paid. Now in the procedure followed in this case, the Department re- 
ferred to was quite unaware of the existence of a staff of trained scien- 
tists in another Department of the same Government which had gained 
world wide recognition for its researches on the properties of radium 
bearing soils and minerals and which, if asked to do so, could have indicated 
a very simple way of making a complete survey of the Province, which 
would give such information as would enable one to say whether 
radium bearing minerals existed in any considerable quantity or not. 
Moreover, the methods which would be applied in this survey are of 
such a sensitive nature that if deposits of the minerals sought for did 
exist it would be possible to locate them with ease and considerable 
precision. 

These are but two or three illustrations of our lack of co-ordination 
in effort, but they serve to show what can be done if proper machinery 
be devised to co-ordinate our activities and to work out in detail a 
broad scheme of scientific co-operation. 

II. NATIONAL ORGANISATION FOR INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH. 

Coming now more particularly to the subject of my address, namely, 
the establishment of an organisation for stimulating and fostering re- 
search as a basis for our manufactures and industries, we are faced with 
the problem of how to bring such a project into operation with the 
greatest efficiency and the least possible friction. 

Universities and Industrial Research. 

The view is held in some quarters in Canada that the direction of 
research work, both industrial and purely scientific, should be placed 



10 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 

under the control of the Universities and that it should be fostered and 
supported by grants of money from the Dominion Treasury directly to 
them. 

It must be remembered, however, that the functions of the Univer- 
sities are primarily educational, and that by the British North America 
Act matters relating to education are not by any means national in 
their scope, but as to upkeep, control and direction belong particularly 
to the individual Provinces. The Universities as I have stated are 
especially concerned with the literary, scientific, technical and artistic 
training of our young men and women. It is true, generally speaking, 
that the best and most efficient teachers are those who carry on investi- 
gative work or direct researches. Such activities give life and vigour 
to the teaching and serve as a great inspiration to the students. It is 
also true, however, that the educational aspect of university work im- 
poses definite limits both as to the time available for research and to 
the character of the researches, especially the experimental ones, which 
can be undertaken with reasonable prospects of a successful issue. In 
Universities the problems attacked are generally speaking of fundamental 
or academic interest. They are such as can be solved by work carried 
on at intervals, or such, especially those in which students co-operate, 
as can through their results be used for the attainment of academic 
standing or the acquisition of University degrees. Problems of a secret 
or private nature cannot be conveniently carried out in University 
Laboratories. In the first place it is difficult to maintain secrecy in 
such institutions, and in the second place the solution of secret problems 
in University Laboratories is not desirable on account of the lack of 
harmony in the staff which it is likely to engender, and on account of 
the need therein for a high minded and lofty scientific spirit which it 
would inevitably tend to suppress or at least fail to develop. 

Moreover it is doubtful if in a democracy such as our own, public 
funds should be used either directly or indirectly for work of this char- 
acter. At the same time there seems to be no reason why the Dominion 
Government should not subsidise research work by grants made directly 
to members of the staffs of the Universities for researches which are of 
a public character and are for the public good. Such researches could, 
with the approval of the authorities concerned, be carried out in Univer- 
sity laboratories, for with the conditions at present existing, these and 
the apparatus in them, are available for a considerable time each year. 
It would seem to be desirable and advisable in the interests of efficiency 
to use them. Research work of a secret nature or for the advantage of 
individual firms, might possibly be tolerated in University laboratories 
for a time, until other facilities are provided, but in my opinion it should 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada ii 

not be formally encouraged. Experience has shown that there are 
other agencies through which such work can be more efficiently and 
satisfactorily carried out. 

Industrial and Scientific Research Commission. 

In Great Britain where they are now deeply concerned with this 
question, they established two years ago a Commission on Industrial 
and Scientific Research*. It is controlled by a Committee of the Privy 
Council consisting of three or four members of the Government, and 
directed by an Advisory Council consisting of a small group of men of 
distinction in Science and of accomplishment in the industries. In 
Canada through the initiative action of the Minister of Trade and 
Commerce, Sir George E. Foster, steps have been taken to set up a 
Commission! of a similar character. It appears that such a body is the 
best agency for handling the problem with us. Among its activities it 
will first of all make a survey of the ground for the purpose of seeing 
what organisations are at present in operation and engaged in research 
work. It will be the duty of the Commission to co-ordinate these and 
to extend and develop their efforts. Cognisance will have to be taken 
by the Commission not only of the work done by the Universities but 
also of that done through such agencies as the National and Provincial 
Governmental Departments, the Royal Society, the Royal Canadian 
Institute the Society for Chemical Industry and perhaps what is most 
important of all by private firms in their works. The Commission will 
be able to give definiteness and direction to the efforts now being put 
forth in this direction by the Boards of Trade, the Grain Growers Associ- 
ation and the Canadian Manufacturers' Association. Machinery will 
have to be devised to prevent overlapping. Steps will have to be taken 
to establish in Ottawa, and probably also in such industrial centres as 
Montreal, Toronto, and Winnipeg, large and fully equipped technical 
libraries which will contain all Scientific and Technical Journals, Trade 
and Industrial Magazines, books, and other publications, and also 
copies of all patents with their specifications wherever issued. We are 
sadly lacking in such facilities at the present time in Canada and the 
Commission should take steps to see that this defect is speedily remedied. 

In Great Britain a large number of the industries have shown extra- 
ordinary enterprise and resourcefulness since the war broke out and 
there has appeared a greater disposition among individual manufac- 
turers to co-operate by interchanging ideas, putting their trade secrets 
into the common stock, and calling in all the available scientific and 
mechanical resources of the country for the purpose of increasing out- 
put and improving organisation. In certain trades the changes which 

*See Appendices I and II. 
tSee Appendix IV. 



12 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 

have already taken place amount to a positive revolution. There is 
scarcely an industry in the country which has not come out of the ordeal 
of the war without being stimulated by the special difficulties which had 
to be surmounted. As has been stated, the history of the war in Great 
Britain has been a history of grave and threatening difficulties courage- 
ously faced and successfully overcome. 

When the war broke out the manufacture of optical and chemical 
glass in France and England was practically insignificant. The steel 
industry was paralysed at first by the lack of chemical glass for testing 
purposes, and the porcelain and pottery industries were brought to a 
standstill through the supply from Germany being cut off of seger cones 
used as guides to firing. To-day they have industries which supply all 
their needs. The compositions of chemical glasses have been ascertained. 
Methods of manufacture have been devised and have been put into 
operation, and through the efforts of Dr. Mellor, recently deceased, the 
composition of seger cones has been successfully worked out. The 
manufacturers of porcelain have pooled their knowledge, combinations 
have been effected and research laboratories have been instituted and 
manned to help them through the co-operation of the Industrial Re- 
search Commission, and with the aid of the financial support of the 
Government. 

I may perhaps be permitted to refer to another phase of the work 
of the British Commission on Industrial and Scientific Research. In 
their report which has just been issued they lay emphasis on what are 
"key" or master industries. Such, they point out, are the magneto 
industry, and the manufacture of lathes and milling machines, optical 
glass, porcelain, fine chemicals, dye stuffs, synthetic drugs and high 
explosives. For such articles the market is a limited one but the articles 
themselves are vital for niunerous other industries. For the develop- 
ment of such industries the Commission takes the view that State sup- 
port is absolutely necessary, and steps have already been taken by that 
body to place a number of these industries upon a satisfactory basis. 
Through the action of the Commission* the University of Leeds has made 
arrangements whereby the organisation known as "British Dyes" may 
receive substantial assistance in the matter of scientific research and at 
the same time special facilities are to be given to private firms and others 
in the national interest. In dealing with the textile industry, support 
has also been given for the investigation of the nature and constitution 
of cellulose fibres at the School of Technology at Manchester. The 
Commission is also supporting an investigation of the de-gumming of 
silk at the Imperial Institute of Science in London. At the Royal 
Technical College, Glasgow, and at the University of Manchester it is 
carrying on researches on the design of steam nozzles for turbines. 

*See Appendix III. 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada 13 

As a result of all these activities two tendencies have been empha- 
sised: (i) Trade associations have been formed for common action at 
home and abroad raising the average standard of production, and 
(2) recognition has been made of the leeway they had to make up as 
regards scientific research, the utilisation of its results and its applica- 
tion to technical and industrial purposes. 

The Commission to which I have already referred has been a most 
potent factor in stimulating and promoting all these results. It has en- 
couraged manufacturers of particular lines to combine in their efforts, 
it has co-operated by supplying them with information as to the tech- 
nique of their industries and it has furnished a supply of scientific men 
likely to help them in the solution of their problems. 

Works Research Laboratories. 

In addition to drawing lessons from what has been accomplished in 
Great Britain, much may be learned also from what is going on to the 
south of us. In such large organisations as The General Electee Co., 
of Schenectady, The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co., of 
East Pittsburg., The Eastman Kodak Co., of Rochester, The DuPont 
Powder Co., The American Rolling Mills Co., The National Electric 
Lamp Association, The General Chemical Co., The U.S. Steel Corpora- 
tion, The Edison Laboratories, The Pennsylvania R.R., they have as 
adjuncts large and magnificiently equipped research laboratories manned 
by the ablest scientific men whose services can be secured and hundreds 
of thousands of dollars are set apart by each of these organisations each 
year for industrial research. 

In a number of these laboratories the activities of the researchers 
are not confined to the solution of problems of pressing necessity. In 
the laboratory of the General Electric Co., for example, the workers are 
encouraged to exploit fields of purely scientific interest, for it is realised 
that what to-day may be of merely academic interest may to-morrow 
have the greatest industrial importance. It is to the credit of this 
policy that to-day we have on the market the metallic filament electric 
lamp, the gas filled electric lamp, the gas arc electric lamp, gas electric 
rectifiers, the Coolidge X-ray tube, and the steel alloys. of vanadium and 
other rare metals which have proven themselves so useful in the manu- 
facture of dental and high speed mechanical cutting tools. 

In Canada our works are as yet, generally speaking, small and cir- 
cumscribed in their production. We have, however, industries such as 
the rubber industry, the agricultural implement industry, the cyanamide 
works, and the steel industry in which a beginning has been made. All 
these have now research laboratories attached to their works. The 



14 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute, [vol. xi 

Canadian Pacific Railway, too, has recently recognised the importance 
of this subject and has organised in connection with its system a research 
laboratory under the direction of Messrs. The Arthur D. Little Co., for 
the purpose of exploiting the natural resources and raw materials v>dth 
which it is more immediately concerned. 

These few illustratioijs which I have cited to which others might be 
added will serve to show*that steps are being taken in Great Britain 
and in the United States to conserve their resources and to stimulate 
and protect the industries of the two countries. Moreover they point 
out very clearly the path which we must follow if our manufacturing 
interests are to be so protected and developed that they may be pre- 
pared adequately to take their part in the great industrial struggle 
which must inevitably follow the termination of the war. 

In Canada as in Great Britain it will be difficult for an Industrial 
Commission of the kind I have referred to, to deal with individual firms. 
Small manufacturers cannot afford to set up research laboratories as 
adjuncts to their works. It will be necessary for the manufacturers in 
particular industries to combine for scientific purposes and possibly 
also for financial reasons. For by such action it will be possible for the 
Government to subsidise research in particular industries. Generally 
speaking it will not be found practicable, I venture to think, for such 
subventions to be given to individual firms for the development of 
research problems of an exclusive or private nature. This will of course 
lead to the creation of great trusts as it has already done in the United 
States, but such a result need not necessarily prove an economic evil 
if we profit by the lessons they have learned and if due precautions are 
taken for the protection of the interests of labour on the one hand and 
also on the other of those of the consumer. 

We must encourage in every possible way our manufacturers to call 
in to their aid the assistance of the trained investigators which we are at 
present turning out in large numbers in our Universities. We in the 
Universities are justly proud of the product of our industry and our 
only regret is that hitherto our industries have failed to avail themselves 
of the services of the highly trained men and women who graduate from 
our halls each year. To our regret and to the oft expressed regret of 
these graduates the lack of openings in our own country has forced them 
to accept positions in the research laboratories of the United States. 
There they are assisting in building up greaf industries, rivals to our 
own, and in adding to the already stupendous wealth of that great 
country. This tide is draining us of our most valuable product and we 
anxiously look forward to the time when the full appreciation of research 
work and of the application of scientific methods will lead our manu- 



191 6] Industrial Research in Canada 15 

facturers to so orientate their industries that an efficient research spirit 
will prevail. May the time soon come when the mental capabilities of 
our people as well as the other natural resources of our richly endowed 
country will be carefully conserved and developed for our own use. 

Standardising, Testing, and Research Laboratories. 

In what has preceded I have dealt with the part which may very 
well be taken by our Universities in a national scheme of Industrial 
Research. I have also emphasised what appears to me to be a most 
important factor in the development of our industries, namely, combina- 
tion of effort and the establishment of research laboratories in con- 
nection with the works of these industries. I have also pointed out in 
what way it appears to me the National Government may legitimately 
be asked to give financial aid to these two types of organisation. There 
is however another phase of the question which demands consideration. 
In a number of the Departments of Government research work is being 
carried on continually and entirely for departmental purposes. It is felt 
by some that there is a danger of overlapping in this work unless some 
scheme of efficient co-ordination be devised. This matter is now I 
believe under consideration by those immediately concerned with it, 
and it is possible that as a result, it may be found necessary to establish 
in different localities in Canada laboratories in which much of this work 
can be done under one or more directing bodies, consisting of the per- 
manent officials interested in the matters taken up, and of others whose 
scientific attainments and qualifications may be such as to make them 
desirable members of such body or bodies. Departmental activities 
which might be cited as being preeminently suitable for being carried 
on by such organisations, are, the standardisation of weights and 
measures, the calibration and testing of meters and measuring instru- 
ments of all kinds, the testing of food-stuffs, the analysis of drugs and 
chemicals, the development of ceramics, the investigation of marine 
lighting and signalling, the treatment of ores and the investigation of 
the properties and treatment of natural products such as fish, oils, 
natural gases, peats and minerals of all kinds. 

The working out of a scheme which will embrace all these different 
types of activity will be a task which, I think you will agree, will 
tax the powers and capabilities of the Commission on Industrial Research 
to which I have alluded. It can however be done and effected very 
speedily if there be a general recognition of the difficulties involved, 
and if a general and hearty desire be evinced by those whose co-operation 
is sought to assist in working it out. 



r6 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 

It may be said that much of the research work to which I have re- 
ferred can be accomplished in the laboratories of our Universities. 
That some of it can I will readily admit, but I venture to think that if 
a serious attempt be made to meet the needs of our country in an adequate 
manner, it will be found that University organisations possess limita- 
tions, in the way of space requirements, continuity of effort and 
administrative machinery which effectually preclude them from 
assuming the direction of anything more than a minor part of the 
industrial research work of the country. 

• What is wanted is in my opinion first of all a consolidation and corre- 
lation of the research work now being carried out at Ottawa in different 
departments and under different Ministers. 

In my opinion the magnificent work which is now being done under 
the Geological Survey and in the Department of Mines at Ottawa, could 
very well be extended. Increased laboratory accommodation should 
be provided and additions made to the staff of highly trained technical 
experts. Sections should also be attached in which problems of a physical 
and chemical nature can be treated. Problems of this type are now 
being dealt with by a number of the Governmental Departments at 
Ottawa, but in my opinion all these activities should be co-ordinated 
with the work in the Geological Survey referred to above, and the whole 
placed under the direction of one Board, embracing the highest technical 
and scientific opinion available in the country. If such consolidation 
were accomplished it could be done on a basis and in a manner to pro- 
vide for the most powerful and the most efficient scientific direction. 

In the second place I think the facilities afforded by the Universities 
should be supplemented by the establishment of a few physical and 
chemical Research Bureaus or Laboratories in the centre of those 
localities in Canada where the industrial activity is the greatest. For 
example, under the conditions at present existing it would seem that 
one of such Bureaus could with advantage be established in the Province 
of Quebec, either at Montreal or Quebec — preferably at Montreal. 
Another should be established at Toronto, probably a third at Winnipeg, 
and latier on a fourth in British Columbia, and maybe fifth at some 
centre in the Eastern Provinces. These Bureaus implementing the 
facilities offered by the Universities could be made somewhat elastic 
in their organisation and they could become most efficient institutions 
for assisting the departments of Provincial Governments in their scien- 
tific work, and for co-operating with manufactuers by providing them 
with scientific information and advice and by investigating for them 
numerous scientific problems which are pressing for solution. 



i9i6] Industrial Research in Canada 17 

III. BUREAU OF INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH OF THE ROYAL 

CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 

And now I may be asked what part does the Royal Canadian Institute 
aim*ia taking in the scheme of National Industrial Research which I 
have briefly outlined. In a sentence it aims at providing local effort to 
meet local needs. 

The Royal Canadian Institute was incorporated by a Royal Charter 
granted on the 4th of November, 1851. Its aims are: 

I. To promote scientific research in Canada. For this purpose it 
encourages all who are workers in Science to present to the public 
through its meetings the results of their investigations and it offers to 
them every facility for making these known through the Proceedings 
and the Transactions which immediately on publication are sent to 
upwards of five hundred scientific learned societies throughout the 
world. 

II. To form in Canada a library of the publications of all the scien- 
tific societies of the world. These publications are given in exchange 
for the Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute 
and as this exchange has been going on for upwards of sixty five years 
the Institute has in consequence a library of about 10,000 volumes com- 
posed of the scientific memoirs and archives of all the important learned 
societies. This library is the only one of its kind in Canada and it has 
already proved of very great value to workers in Science. 

III. To engage and lead the attention of the people to questions of 
public interest and utility on which scientific opinion may have an 
important bearing and 

IV. To bring into co-operation all the scientific workers in Canada. 
The institute endeavours to accomplish this by offering assistance in 
the way of publication of valuable papers of scientific workers and by 
placing at their service the library of the Institute. But the aims of 
the Royal Canadian Institute are higher still for it recognised that from 
economical and geographical considerations the Western portion of 
Ontario including the city of Toronto and its associated contributary 
districts is marked out as a region of intense prospective industrial 
activity. Its numerous railways, existent and projected, both steam 
driven and electric, together with its vast available resources in electric 
power, indicate very clearly that it is peculiarly well suited for the 
location of numerous and extensive industries. These industries will 
require scientific guidance and advice, and an organised scientific basis 
for the economical production and manufacture of their products. 



1 8 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute, [vol. xi 

To meet this situation the Royal Canadian Institute, some two years 
ago, organised a "Bureau of Industrial Research and School of Specific 
Industries" and with this organisation it aims at promoting in every 
way available the alliance between science and industry and the 
advancement of original Scientific and Industrial Research in Canada. 
It aims at undertaking to report upon the bibliography of any scientific 
subject or the object of any Scientific and Industrial Research. In a 
word it aims at taking from Industrialists perplexing manufacturing 
problems and by the application thereto of contemporary Science, 
working out practical commercial solutions of these problems. 

On the Council of the Bureau we have representatives from the 
staff of all the Faculties in the University of Toronto, we have repre- 
sentatives from the Technical Institute, the Canadian Manufacturers' 
Association, the Board of Trade of Toronto and of the Associated Boards 
of Trade of Ontario. The Society of Chemical Industry also has repre- 
sentatives on the Council. Moreover we are assured, I am told, oi the 
hearty support of practically all of those members of the staff of the 
University who may not for the time being be members of the Council. 
I have no doubt, too, that in the course of time the Council will include 
representatives from the various departments of the Provincial Govern- 
ment and of the Trades and Labour Council. It is gratifying to find 
that at its inception the Bureau has secured the hearty support of such 
influential bodies as I have mentioned. It means that many preliminary 
difficulties have been successfully overcome and that we can now move 
forward united and confident of the ultimate success of the local move- 
ment. 

Among other directions in which the Bureau intends to act, it aims 
as mentioned above, at working out an information department. It is 
thought that such a department can first of all encourage the manu- 
facturers to apply to the Bureau for information on the technique of 
specific industries. It is our opinion too that surveys should be made 
from time to time of our industries by the Bureau with a view to collating 
information regarding the character and extent of their mechanical 
equipment. Furnished by them with this information it will be possible 
to make suggestions for increasing production and for embarking on 
the manufacture of new products. We have in the Royal Canadian 
Ijistitute as I have stated the basis of a good technical library. We 
have, too, the Toronto Public Reference Library, the University Library, 
and the Provincial Library in close proximity. But the technical side 
of all these libraries could be greatly extended. I venture to think that 
this is a direction in which we would be warranted in applying to the 
Dominion Treasury for financial assistance. An information depart- 



I9i6] Industrial Research in Canada 19 

ment such as I have referred to and a large fully equipped technical 
library would soon prove of inestimable value to the manufacturers in 
the districts I have mentioned, and to the public generally. There 
should I think, be at least three or four of such libraries established in 
Canada and it seems to me that for the Western and Central Ontario 
Districts it should be done by building upon the basis which has been 
so well laid, i.e., by adding to and extending the library of our Institute. 
It seems to me too that the Government of the Province of Ontario 
might increase its support of the movement inaugurated by the Royal 
Canadian Institute by coming into closer relation with the Bureau. 
Many of the problems which are presented to the departments of the 
local Government for solution can be solved in the laboratories of the 
Provincial University, but there are others which require continuity 
of effort and sustained treatment. Numbers of these will require special 
research apparatus, more space than is available or is likely to be avail- 
able in University laboratories, and a special staff of researchers. Such 
problems could with economy and efficiency be investigated in the 
laboratories of the Bureau of Industrial Research associated with the 
Institute. I would urge the members of the Provincial Government 
to give consideration to the suggestion that in the steps I understand 
they contemplate taking to develop research in connection with their 
own departments they could possibly accomplish efficiently what they 
are aiming at by co-ordinating their efforts with those now being put 
forth by the Institute in a parallel direction. 

Research Work and the Individual Manufacturer. 

I have now referred to the types of investigations, which according 
to my judgment can best be carried out in our University Laboratories, 
in the works of our industries and in laboratories which may very well 
be established at the different industrial centres in our country. But 
as yet I have left out of consideration the means of attempting the 
solution of problems of a private and exclusive or secret nature. These 
I think belong to a category by themselves. The cost of defraying the 
expenses incurred in solving such problems should I think be met by 
the manufacturers themselves, who are to be directly benefitted by their 
solution. Distinct laboratory equipment will be required for the pur- 
pose and this the Bureau of the Royal Canadian Institute aims at pro- 
viding if it can succeed in securing adequate financial support. I would 
appeal to our manufacturer's for help in this matter. Many of them, 
through their own energy and resourcefulness, through beneficent 
tariff arrangements, and through other favourable conditions, have 



20 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute, [vol. xi 

become prosperous, and even wealthy. Will not some one or some 
group of them come forward and give their support to the equipment 
of such an institution? It need not be large, it need not be costly, but 
one of some kind is required if we are to attempt the work at all. The 
Mellon Institute which has been founded at Pittsburg by private 
benefaction is our model in this direction. Through the energy of the 
late Professor R. K. Duncan, a Canadian, and through that of his 
successor Dr. Bacon and of his colleagues numerous problems have 
been solved in the Mellon Institute which have enabled the manu- 
facturers of the United States to increase their output and lower the 
cost of production. 

Among the problems successfully treated in the Mellon Institute 
are (1) the refining of copper, (2) the process of leaching, (3) cement 
manufacture, (4) the elimination of the smoke nuisance, (5) glass manu- 
facture, (6) bread making, and (7) paper making. 

With these illustrations before us it is clear that we can follow with 
confidence in the footsteps of those who founded the Mellon Institute 
for they have marked out a path which has led and will continue to lead 
to certain success. 

I have spoken thus definitely about a sphere of activity which might 
legitimately be developed by the Bureau of the Royal Canadian Institute. 
It is a field which as yet has not been preempted by any interests or by 
any existing scientific organisations. There is no need, however, for the 
Bureau to confine its attention to the manufacturers in one particular 
part of Ontario. The Institute is founded on a Royal Charter and its 
constitution is not by any means limited by Provincial considerations. 
The whole of Canada is open to it. We must of course, develop slowly, 
but in the course of time problems of the type I have indicated will be 
presented for solution in all parts of our country and there is no reason 
why the Bureau should not co-operate in helping manufacturers no 
matter in what part of Canada their industries may be located. 

As the situation develops, too, problems whose solutions are in the 
general public interest will multiply, and the Bureau as well as our 
universities may very well concern itself with the solution of such 
problems in addition to those of an exclusive or private nature. It will 
frequently be found, however, I venture to think that our Universities and 
Technical Institutes will be able to provide experimental equipment and 
to afford laboratory facilities better suited for work of general interest 
than the Institute. For the handling of such cases I am assured that 
our Universities and Technical Institutes will heartily co-operate with 
the Institute in making such official arrangements as will enable us to 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada 21 

hand over the solution of problems of a public nature to the directors 
of the laboratories in these institutions either for direct solution by 
them or for the investigative work to be immediately initiated, directed, 
supervised, and administered by them. 

IV. RESEARCH WORKERS. 

I should also like to refer with your permission to one or two other 
matters which to me appear to merit some attention in the treatment of 
my subject. One of these has to do with the welfare of the personnel 
required to actually carry out the investigations of industrial research. 
We have in the graduates who are being turned out annually from our 
universities a body of well trained investigators. In the past, as already 
pointed out, many of these have had to go to the United States for employ- 
ment. We should, however, retain them in our own country. They could 
be secured and held, initially and in part at least, by the establishment, in 
connection with our Bureau, of Fellowships of about $1500 per annum. 
This is a modest sum and one which could be easily paid by manufac- 
turers for the solution, either complete or in part, of some of their pro- 
blems. I hope this matter will te taken up at once, that the manufac- 
turers will immediately take steps to enable us to secure modest but 
suitable laboratory accommodation, and that they will hasten to bring 
their difficulties to us and endow Fellowships for their solution. We on 
our side are waiting to co-operate most heartily. Another point to which 
I must refer is the treatment of Fellows who succeed in successfully 
solving problems which may be presented. They should not be treated 
in a niggardly manner. Many of them are looking to the industries for 
their future occupation. If they make some new discovery or improve 
a process, they should receive some adequate financial return. The 
manufacturers should be prepared to adopt some system of paying 
royalties to them, or what is better still, they should be given some 
financial interest in the firm which profits by their discovery or improve- 
ment in a process. While this would be only fair it would also tend to 
put our industries on a higher plane for it would be putting into operation 
a scheme which would ultimately result in our great industries being 
directed and managed by a body of men who have received not only the 
highest training which our Universities and Technical Colleges can 
furnish, but who have also shown that they possess the power to initiate 
and carry on original investigations, and at the same time have a deep 
sympathy with research methods and know how to co-ordinate these 
with economic values. 



22 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute, [vol. xi 

V. INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY AFTER THE WAR. 

Another matter to which I wish to draw your attention is the utiUsa- 
tion of our war equipment in the industries after the war. The prosecu- 
tion of the war has necessitated both in this country and in Great 
Britain, the estabUshment of vast and extensive works for the manu- 
facture of munitions and other war equipment. It has necessitated also 
the installation of enormous additions to the mechanical equipment 
of existing works. Two years ago for example the manufacture of aero- 
planes and aircraft generally was but an insignificant industry in Great 
Britain. To-day all is changed. At the present time aircraft are being 
constructed in a dozen centres in England and Scotland, and in addition 
the Government maintain a factory at Farnborough which covers 
hundreds of acres and includes on its staff thousands of men and women 
who are feverishly at work constructing and assembling the parts of 
aeroplanes which are being turned out in prodigious numbers. Great 
and enormous works have also been established for the manufacture 
of chemicals and other materials used in the making of explosives and 
of artillery. Formerly the guns and ammunition for the army were 
largely manufactured at Woolwich but to-day there is hardly a town 
or city in the Kingdom which is not contributing its quota to the arma- 
ment of the nation. In one part of Scotland alone which came under 
my notice, the works recently established by the Government for the 
manufacture and storage of explosives and other munitions covers an 
area of almost 200 square miles. 

On the Clyde, too, the most intense activity prevails. An entirely new 
fleet is being created. In a visit I paid there recently I counted over two 
hundred war vessels under construction. There were flotillas of torpedo- 
destroyers, and destroyer leaders, dozens of submarines, many mine 
sweepers and monitors, and numbers of battle cruisers and battle ships. 
Yards in which a war vessel had never been constructed hitherto had 
their slips filled with these additions to the navy. Firms which were 
formerly competitors now lend one another engineers, models, drawings 
and workmen. In addition to the need for this enormous expenditure 
of strength on the construction of war ships there came an imperative 
demand for increased merchant tonnage. To this demand the workers 
on the Clyde, masters and men, responded with alacrity and enthusiasm 
and the intensity of the effort is most impressive. In addition to the 
war vessels now being built which I have mentioned I observed large 
numbers of enormous freight and passenger carrying vessels under 
construction, some almost completed and others with their keels only 
just laid. As one passes up the Clyde from the Broomielaw to Greenock 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada 23 

in a small river boat one is deafened with the noise and the rattle of 
it all. It is simply stupendous and gives one the impression of being 
in the midst of a gigantic factory where the workers are not men but 
supermen and the directors are the very gods and titans of mythology. 
And the intensity of the effort is not confined to the Clyde district 
alone for if one is to believe what one hears, a similarly intense activity 
is in evidence in the neighbourhoods of Portsmouth, Chatham, New- 
castle, Liverpool and Belfast. 

The changes which have come about in the last two years in the 
British Isles are beyond expression. Enormously more has been accom- 
plished than could have been believed possible even by the most vivid 
imagination. We have seen the Empire perform the greatest achieve- 
ment in history in raising over five million volunteer soldiers within 
two years and in creating the arms, munitions and equipment necessary 
for that army. What is more wonderful still is that we have seen great 
changes wrought in the mental outlook and viewpoint of the British 
people. 

We have seen them when confronted with the grave and threatening 
difficulties of this tremendous ordeal, suddenly give up their lives of 
indulgence, luxury and ease and mobilize all their financial, intellectual, 
and industrial strength for the struggle. We have seen the labour 
interests assume national responsibilities, to a degree far beyond what 
previous to the war we had thought possible. The part taken by the 
women in this movement, too, is beyond all praise. In the British Isles 
as also in a measure in Canada one to two millions of women have for the 
first time received the mental and physical development which comes from 
earning money and from training in work. Millions of men and youths 
have advanced from unimportant common place labour to skilled work. 
At the end of the war we shall have in the Empire from four to five 
millions of trained men, survivors from the battlefields who will have 
had the tremendous advantage derived from the physical, mental and 
moral training required of soldiers. Through the efforts of the clergy, 
our military leaders and our statesmen, the national conscience, too, has 
been so awakened that a revolution has been accomplished in the attitude 
of the army and of the manhood of the nation generally, towards ques- 
tions of temperance, clean living, literature and the drama. I am making 
but a conservative estimate when I say that as a result of the war from 10 
to 15 millions of the British people will have made an enormous mental, 
moral, and physical advance. 

In walking through the different works in the cities of London, 
Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and other places one is struck by 
a new alertness, a sort of mental and physical exhilaration that gives 



24 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute, [vol. xi 

one the impression of being in the midst of a gigantic struggle in which 
the participants have consecrated themselves body and soul, with a 
lofty cheerfulness and transcendent eagerness to the accomplishment 
and consummation of one of the noblest and most stupendous tasks 
to which humanity has ever set its hand. 

On the breaking out of the war two years ago, one witnessed the most 
heart-rending sights when trainloads of soldiers left the great stations in 
the British Isles for the front. Wives were seen clinging to husbands, 
mothers to sons, and sweethearts to their lovers. The air was filled with 
wailing and anguished cries. To-day, under similar circumstances, one 
still sees women and girls crowding the railway stations to bid good-bye 
to their soldier sweethearts and relatives. But all is changed. There is 
still eagerness, yearning, longing, admiration and tenderness in their 
faces, but practically no tears. The people are beyond tears. The 
effects of the war are everywhere and are felt equally by all classes. The 
result is a most remarkable mental, moral and spiritual exiltation. I 
have not had the privilege of visiting France since the war began, but 
I am told that the changes which have taken place in that wonderful 
country are equally marked and equally profound. It has been truly 
said that "Britain and France are not simply renewed — they are reborn. 
The British Empire and France are the youngest nations in the world". 

The changes which have been wrought by the war in the Old World 
have also been going on in Canada, though to a less degree, and the 
question naturally arises: — ^What are we to do with all this enormous 
quantity of mechanical equipment which has been assembled and what 
are we to do with the millions of men and women who have received 
this remarkable stimulation and change of outlook from the stress of 
war? Assuredly here we have a problem which will tax the resources 
of Governments and Legislatures let alone that of Industrial Commis- 
sions. 

We must however remember that the mechanical equipment, and 
mental energy which has been developed in the process of rescuing the 
Empire from disaster, can also be used in the arts of peace for main- 
taining and extending its intellectual and industrial supremacy. Both 
capital and labour have learned how to respect each other. Capital has 
learned that the labourer is worthy of his hire, and labour has learned 
that the promotion of its interests is not incompatible with efforts on 
the part of capital to increase production. Both have learned the value 
of the application of scientific principles to industry and have seen more 
clearly that co-operation and mutual confidence are vital factors in 
the advancement of national greatness. 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada 25 

With a successful termination to the war fairly well in sight, increas ng 
attention is now being paid both in Canada and in Great Britain to this 
question and in both portions of the Empire steps have been taken to 
constitute advisory boards whose function will be to indicate to manu- 
facturers the various industries in which their war equipment can be 
put to profitable use. France is probably at the present time ahead of 
us in dealing with this question for in a report which has recently been 
published in that country some interesting, definite and very helpful 
suggestions are made. In this report, for example, it is pointed out that 
the equipment which is now being used for the manufacture of acids, 
tar products, powder, and explosives, can under peace conditions be 
used for the manufacture of artificial perfumes, photographic materials, 
pharmaceutical products and organic and inorganic dyes. It is also 
shown that engineers and workmen who have been trained in the manu- 
facture of smokeless powder, melinite, and trinitfbtoluol can after the 
war be used in the same works and with the same machinery to manu- 
facture such articles as artificial silk, nitrobenzine, and aniline, etc. 

The report also goes on to say that in order to give efTect to these 
suggestions, there has been formed in France the Syndicat National de 
Matieres Colorantes, which is a combination of coal and metallurgical 
companies, paper makers, dyers, textile manufacturers, etc. This 
illustration will serve to indicate to you the progress of the movement 
in France. Thanks to it, it is now clear that hundreds of thousands of 
workmen in that country will continue to earn their wages and the 
works which are to-day mobilised for destruction will to-morrow, when 
peace is declared, make France more powerful than ever. 

One hears frequent reference made these days to the transference of 
enormous reserves of accumulated wealth from the British Empire and 
the allied countries to neutral nations, especially the United States, and 
one is apt to be discouraged by the vastness of our debt to that nation 
incurred through our prosecution of the war. We must realise however 
that the future is not at all a hopeless one. Our greatest loss is that of 
the lives of thousands of our bravest and best whom we can ill spare, 
but who have made the supreme sacrifice gladly, and confident that by 
so doing they were not contributing to the loss but to the enhancement 
of the greatness and glory of our Empire. These precious lives can never 
be restored to us. But the accumulation of vast mechanical equipment, 
the establishment of enormous works of all kinds, the mobilisation of 
industry, practice in the successful production of all types of manufacture 
in enormous quantities, tremendous advances in the manipulative and 
mechanical skill of millions of our people, and a recognition of the vital 



26 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 

necessity of co-operation between science, industry, labour, finance, and 
government — these, together with the wider outlook, the intensity 
of effort, the moral uplifting and the spiritual exaltation which the war 
has brought to us in its train are all assets which in themselves connote 
national greatness. If we conserve and cherish these, if we stimulate and 
foster the scientific spirit in our midst, if our industries more and more 
continue to look to science for direction, information and advice, national 
in debtedness will gradually pass away and with the memory of the sacri- 
fices we have made and the eflforts we have put forth, for the liberation, 
peace and happiness of humanity ever before us, our Empire will rise 
purified and ennobled to an enhanced glory far beyond that which, in 
the past, with good reason, has been its chief pride and most cherished 
possession. 

Financial and Governmental Support of Key Industries. 

Had time permitted I could have referred here at some length to a 
part banking interests might play in developing certain types of manu- 
facture in this country which are at present lacking. I refer to the lack 
of manufacturers of such articles as glass tubing, thermometers, chemical 
glass ware, porcelain ware, meters of all kinds, certain types of technical 
apparatus, certain chemicals, gauges, dies, and machine tools. In the 
industries these articles are of a fundamental nature and are of vital 
necessity. In the past our supply was largely drawn from the United 
States, Great Britain, France or Germany. This means that much of the 
manufacturing and many of the researches in the works, in the Uni- 
versities, and the Colleges, are frequently held up for months at a time, 
Such articles would in Canada at first be manufactured in a small way, 
at least until types were developed which would command the market 
in foreign countries. Those who engage in the manufacture of articles 
having a limited market would probably find it difficult to get proper 
financial support from our banking institutions. It is quite easy in 
Canada apparently for railroads, electric development companies, steel 
corporations, milling and other large and politically powerful interests 
to have very large advances made to them by the banks under legis- 
lative or governmental guarantees, but it is not so easy for the manu- 
facturers of such articles as I have mentioned to get it. It is of great 
national interest however to have these industries in our midst, and it 
appears to me that if a Dominion Commission on Industrial Research 
would emphasize the necessity of developing these fundamental in- 
dustries in our country that the Government would soon take such 



I9i6] Industrial Research in Canada 27 

legislative action as would induce our banking and financial institutions 
to single out these vital industries as being for the common good, worthy 
of very special support and encouragement. It seems to me that if it 
be necessary to continue a policy of protection in this country — and I may 
add that it seems to be both desirable and necessary — we should 
see to it that it is first of all applied to those industries which are basic 
and of vital importance to the community rather than to those for 
example which have to do with the preparation of foodstuffs and clothing 
material, and the production of books, periodicals and printed matter 
generally. In the past the application of the principle of "protection" 
has in some cases worked out as the imposition of a special tax upon the 
consumer for the benefit of the manufacturer without producing any 
compensating general advantages in the way of a commensurate or 
even substantial contribution to the wealth of the nation. I venture to 
present a special plea at this time, for a scientific revision of our tariffs. 
Let us take stock of our economic position in a broad way, and adopt 
such measures as will tend to lower the cost of living and as will ensure 
the production and manufacture in our own country of such articles as 
are of vital and fundamental importance to the nation. We are fre- 
quently told that the manufacture of machine tools and other articles 
belonging to the category I have mentioned will require a class of skilled 
labour which has not in the past been available. In the future this 
argument cannot be put forward for as a result of the war we shall have 
hundreds and thousands of men and women in the empire who have 
had a training not only in machine and tool work of the highest pre- 
cision but also in machine construction and machine design. The higher 
positions in such manufacturing industries will afford openings for the 
trained technical experts being turned out by our Universities. Let us 
see to it that in Canada we are ready to use to the full the magnificent 
contribution to our national capabilities which the stress of war has 
made. 

The Housing Problem. 

One more point and then I have done. In a previous part of the 
paper I have referred to the prospective development of the Western 
part of Ontario and particularly the Niagara Peninsula into a region of 
intense industrial activity. This means that unless care is taken in 
advance we shall have in this district a repetition of the wretched con- 
ditions which prevail in the neighbourhood of such places as Sheffield, 
Leeds, Glasgow, and other manufacturing cities in the Old Country. 
In fact the evil is to a certain extent already with us for if one visits 
certain towns in Ontario and other parts of Canada at the present time 
one will find that the workmen are housed in buildings entirely lacking 



28 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 

in architectural beauty, situated often on low-lying and otherwise most 
unsuitable ground areas. Too often no serious attempt is made to lay 
out the streets with taste or to erect the houses with due provision for 
a reasonable amount of comfort and sanitary safeguards. They often 
seem to be erected at haphazard in close proximity to the works, and in 
the midst of an atmosphere contaminated with grime and smoke. Very 
little provision is made for open spaces, garden facilities and park areas. 
The matter is left entirely to the whim of the manufacturer and the 
machinations of the land speculator. 

The proper housing of workmen should, I venture to say, be as much 
the concern of Boards of Health as the disposal of sewage or the pro- 
vision of a supply of pure water. If due care be taken now by adequate 
legislative action we can easily see to it that at a very small additional 
cost homes can be provided for our workmen pleasing in design, artisti- 
cally located in healthy locations, and with properly laid out areas for 
garden and recreation purposes which will give the moral and aesthetic 
natures of our working people a legitimate chance of development. 

Our water supplies in Western Ontario will also have to be looked 
after. At the present time these are drawn for practically all the towns 
in this district from sources which in the near future cannot fail to become 
contaminated. In the Georgian Bay and Lake Huron we have an in- 
exhaustible supply of pure water. With this as a source it would seem 
to be quite a simple engineering problem to erect reservoirs on the 
height of land in the counties of Perth and Waterloo, Wellington, or 
Dufferin, which would supply the whole of Western Ontario. If this 
were done the pumping plants in all the cities and towns in the 
district could be dispensed with, and one plant of suitable dimensions, 
if properly located, would suffice for all. We have seen how in England 
and Scotland vast sums of money have been expended and how great 
physical difficulties have been overcome to furnish the cities of Glasgow, 
Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and London with a 
plentiful supply of pure water. In Western Ontario the problem would 
I venture to think, be a comparatively simple one to solve. It would 
however require to be dealt with in a broad way, but with the example 
of the successful development of the Provincial Hydro-electric scheme 
before us, it is a problem which our different municipalities, towns and 
cities might readily undertake to consider, confident that a satisfactory 
and yet simple solution can readily be found. 

But I must close my remarks. 

In what has preceded I have endeavoured to present a few aspects 
of the question of industrial research as they appear to me. My treat- 
ment must necessarily be inadequate and defective. I have not had the 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada 29 

opportunity, except to a very limited extent, of becoming familiar either 
with the financial, the mechanical, or the economic side of manufac- 
turing. My calling, however, leads me continually to the consideration 
of scientific problems and scientific methods. I have in a measure 
become familiar with the steps taken in Great Britain and other coun- 
tries in developing schemes of industrial research and in dealing with 
allied matters. These I have endeavoured to apply to what appears to 
me to be the special needs of our own country, a country which we all 
agree is full of potentiality and promise. 

In closing may I be permitted to remind you that the terrible War 
which is now being waged is but one aspect of a tremendous struggle 
for Truth and Righteousness. Let us not forget that it is a struggle in 
which Science is one of the combatants. Are we to be the Allies of 
Science or must Science look in another direction for support? The 
words recently penned by the English Poet, William Watson, are not 
without interest at this time. They are entitled : 

What Science Says to Truth. 

As the mainland to the sea 

Thou art to me. 

Thou standest stable, while against thy feet 

I beat, I beat! 

Yet from the clifTs so sheer, so tall, 
Sands crumble and fall; 
And golden grains of thee my tides each day 
Carry away. 



30 Transactions of the. Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 



APPENDIX I. 

ORDER IN COUNCIL CONSTITUTING A COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY 
COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND AN 
ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR SCIENTIFIC AND INDUS- 
TRIAL RESEARCH. 

At the Court at Buckingham Palace, 
The 28th day of July, 1915. 

Present: 
The King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. 

It is this day ordered by His Majesty in Council that the Lord President of the 
Council, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary for Scotland, the President 
of the Board of Trade, the President of the Board of Education, and the Chief Secretary 
for Ireland, respectively, for the time being, the Right Honourable Viscount Haldane 
of Cloan, K.T., O.M., F.R.S., the Right Honourable Arthur Herbert Dyke Acland, and 
the Right Honourable Joseph Albert Pease, M.P., be, and they are, hereby appointed 
a Committee to direct, subject to such conditions as the Treasury may from time to time 
prescribe, the application of any sums of money provided by Parliament for the organ- 
isation and development of scientific and industrial research.* 

It is further ordered that during His Majesty's pleasure the President of the Board 
of Education shall preside over the said Committee in the absence of the Lord President; 
Moreover, it is furthte'r ordered that, for the purposes aforesaid, there shall be an 
Advisory Council (consisting of such number of persons holding office for such term 
as the Committee shall from time to time determine) to which shall stand referred, for 
their report and recommendation, proposals — 
(i) for instituting specific researches; 

(ii) for establishing or developing special institutions or departments of existing 
institutions for the scientific study of problems affecting particular 
industries and trades; and 
(iii) for the establishment and award of Research Studentships and Fellowships. 
The said Council may itself initiate such proposals and may advise the Committee 
on such matters, whether general or particular, relating to the advancement of trade 
and industry by means of scientific research as the Committee from time to time deter- 
mine. 

And it is ordered that the following shall be among the first Members of the Advisory 
Council: — 

Sir William Symington McCormick, LL.D. (Administrative Chairman); 
The Right Honourable Lord Rayleigh, O.M., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.; 
George Thomas Beilby, Esquire, LL.D., F.R.S., 
William Duddell, Esquire, F.R.S. ; 
Professor Bertram Hopkinson, F.R.S. ; 
Professor John Alexander McClelland, F.R.S.; 
Professor Raphael Meldola, F.R.S.; and 
Richard Threlfall, Esquire, F.R.S. 

* By supplemental Order in Council of 23rd May 1916 the Secretary of State for the Colonies for 
the time being was appointed a member of the Committee. 



191 6] Industrial Research in Canada 



31 



And it is ordered that the Committee may, out of funds provided by ParHament 
or otherwise available for the purpose, pay such remuneration to the Members of the 
Advisory Council and such salary to the Administrative Chairman thereof as the 
Treasury authorise, and defray to such an amount as may be sanctioned by the Treasury 
any other expenses incurred by the Council in or in connexion with the performance of 
its duties, and may enter into any contracts incidental thereto. 

And it is ordered that the Committee shall in every year cause to be laid before 
both Houses of Parliament a Report of their proceedings and of the proceedings of the 
Advisory Council, during the preceding year. 

ALMERIC FITZROY. 



APPENDIX II. 

SCHEME FOR THE ORGANISATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF 
SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH IN 
GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 

1. There is a strong consensus of opinion among persons engaged both in science 
and in industry that a special need exists at the present time for new machinery and for 
additional State assistance in order to promote and organise scientific research with a 
view especially to its application to trade and industry. It is well known that many of 
our industries have since the outbreak of war suffered through our inability to produce 
at home, certain articles and materials required in trade processes, the manufacture of 
which has become localised abroad, and particularly in Germany, because science 
has there heen more thoroughly and effectively applied to the solution of scientific 
problems bearing on trade and industry and to the elaboration of economical and im- 
proved processes of manufacture. It is impossible to contemplate without considerable 
apprehension the situation which will arise at the end of the war unless our scientific 
resources have previously been enlarged and organised to meet it. It appears incon- 
trovertible that if we are to advance or even maintain our industrial position we must 
as a nation aim at such a development of scientific and industrial research as will place 
us in a position to expand and strengthen our industries and to compete successfully 
with the most highly organised of our rivals. The difficulties of advancing on these 
lines during the war are obvious and are not under-estimated, but we cannot hope to 
improvise an effective system at the moment when hostilities cease, and unless during 
the present period we are able to make a substantial advance we shall certainly be 
unable to do what is necessary in the equally difficult period of reconstruction which will 
follow the war. 

2. The present scheme is designed to established a permanent organisation for the 
promotion of industrial and scientific research. 

It is in no way intended that it should replace or interfere with the arrangements 
which have been or may be made by the War Office or Admiralty or Minister of Muni- 
tions to obtain scientific advice and investigation in connection with the provision of 
munitions or war. It is, of course, obvious that at the present moment it is essential 
that the War Office, the Admiralty, and the Ministry of Munitions should continue to 
make their own direct arrangements with scientific men and institutions with the least 
possible delay. 



32 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute, [vol. xi 

3. It is clearly desirable that the scheme should operate over the Kingdom as, a 
whole with as little regard as possible to the Tweed and the Irish Channel. The research 
done should be for the Kingdom as a whole, and there should be complete liberty to 
utilise the most effective institutions and investigators available, irrespective of their 
location in England, Wales, Scotland or Ireland. There must therefore be a single fund 
for the assistance of research, under a single responsible body . 

4. The scheme accordingly provides for the establismhent of — 

(fl) A Committee of the Privy Council responsible for the expenditure of any new 
moneys provided by Parliament for scientific and industrial research; 

(b) A small Advisory Council responsible to the Committee of Council and 
composed mainly of eminent scientific men and men actually engaged 
in industries dependent upon scientific research. 

5. The Committee of Council will consist of the Lord President, the Chancellor 
of the Exchequer, the Secretary for Scotland, the President of the Board of Trade, the 
President of the Board of Education (who will be Vice-President of the Committee), 
the Chief Secretary for Ireland, together with such other Ministers and individual 
Members of the Council as it may be thought desirable to add. 

The first non-official Members of the Committee will be — 

The Right Hon. Viscount Haldane of Cloan, O.M., K.T., F.R.S., 
The Right Hon. Arthur H. D. Acland, and 
The Right Hon. Joseph A. Pease, M.P. 
The President of the Board of Education will answer in the House of Commons for 
the sub-head on the Vote, which will be accounted for by the Treasury under Class IV., 
Vote 7, "Scientific Investigations, &c." 

It is obvious that the organisation and development of research is a matter which 
greatly affects the public educational systems of the Kingdom. A great part of all 
research will necessarily be done in Universities and Colleges which are already aided 
by the State, and the supply and training of a sufficient number of young persons 
competent to undertake research can only be secured through the public system of 
education. 

6. The primary functions of the Advisory Council will be to advise the Committee 
of Council on — 

(i) proposals for instituting specific researches; 

(ii) proposals for establishing or developing special institutions or departments 
of existing institutions for the scientific study of problems affecting 
particular industries and trades; 
(iii) the establishment and award of Research Studentships and Fellowships. 
The Advisory Council will also be available, if requested, to advise the several 
Education Departments as to the steps which should be taken for increasing the 
supply of workers competent to undertake scientific research. 

Arrangements will be made by which the Council will keep in close touch with all 
Government Departments concerned with or interested in scientific research and by 
which the Council will have regard to the research work which is being done or may be 
done by the National Physical Laboratory. 

7. It is essential that the Advisory Council should act in intimate cooperation with 
the Royal Society and the existing scientific or professional associations, societies and 
institutes, as well as with the Universities, Technical Institutions and other institutions 
in which research is or can be efficiently conducted. 



I9i6] Industrial Research in Canada 33 

It is proposed to ask the Royal Society and the principal scientific and professional 
associations, societies and institutes to undertake the function of initiating proposals 
for the consideration of the Advisory Council, and a regular procedure for inviting and 
collecting proposals will be established. The Advisor^' Council will also be at liberty 
to receive proposals from individuals and themselves to initiate proposals. 

All possible means will be used to enlist the interest and secure the co-operation of 
persons directly engaged in trade and industry. 

8. It is contemplated that the Advisory Council will work largely through Sub- 
Committees reinforced by suitable experts in the particular branch of science or industry 
concerned. On these Sub-Committees it would be desirable as far as possible to enlist 
the services of persons actually engaged in scientific trades and manufactures dependent 
on science. 

9. As regards the use or profits of discoveries, the general principle on which grants 
will be made by the Committee of Council is that discoveries made by institutions, 
associations, bodies, or individuals in the course of researches aided by public money 
shall be made available under proper conditions for the public advantage. 

10. It is important in order to secure effective working that the Advisory Council 
should be a small body, but it is recognised that even if full use is made by the Council 
of its power to work through reinforced Sub-Committees, its membership may be found 
inadequate to do justice to all the branches of industry in which proposals for research 
may be made or to the requests of other Government Departments for assistance. It is 
therefore probable that it will be found necessary to strengthen the Council by appoint- 
ing additional Members. 

The first Members of the Council will be — 

The Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, O.M., F.R.S., LL.D. 

Mr. G. T. Beilby, F.R.S., LL.D. 

Mr. W. Duddell, F.R.S. 

Prof. B. Hopkinson, F.R.S 

Prof. J. A. McClelland, F.R.S 

Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S. 

Mr. R. Threlfall, F.R.S. 

With Sir William S. McCormick, LL.D., as administrative Chairman. 

11. The Advisory Council will proceed to frame a scheme or programme for their 
own guidance in recommending proposals for research and for the guidance of the 
Committee of Council in allocating such State funds as may be available. This scheme 
will naturally be designed to operate over some years in advance, and in framing it the 
Council must necessarily have due regard to the relative urgency of the problems 
requiring solution, the supply of trained researchers available for particular pieces of 
research, and the material facilities in the form of laboratories and equipment which are 
available or can be provided for specific researches. Such a scheme will naturally be 
elastic and will require modification from year to year; but it is obviously undesirable 
that the Council should live "from hand to mouth" or work on the principle of "first 
come first served," and the recommendations (which for the purpose of estimating they 
will have to make annually to the Committee of Council) should represent progi^essive 
instalments of a considered programme and policy. A large part of their work will be 
that of examining, selecting, combining, and co-ordinating rather than that of origina- 
ting. One of their chief functions will be the prevention of overlapping between 



34 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute, [vol. xi 

institutions or individuals engaged in research. They will, on the other hand, be at 
liberty to initiate proposals and to institute inquiries preliminary to preparing or 
eliciting proposals for useful research, and in this way they may help to concentrate on 
problems requiring solution the interest of all persons concerned in the development 
of all branches of scientific industry. 

12. An Annual Report embodying the Report of the Advisory Council will be made 
to His Majesty by the Committee of Council and laid before Parliament. 

13. Office accommodation and staff will be provided for the Committee and Council 
by the Board of Education. 

ARTHUR HENDERSON. 
23rd July 1915. 



I9i6] 



Industrial Research in Canada 



35 



APPENDIX III. 



LIST OF RESEARCHES AIDED DURING THE YEAR 1915-16 BY THE 
COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF GREAT BRITAIN 
AND IRELAND ON SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH. 



Research. 



Institution or Body- 
responsible for the 
Research. 



Institutions, Laboratories, &c., 

at which the Research is, 

or will be, conducted. 



(i) Researches which were already in Process. 



Laboratory Glass 



Optical Glass 
Refractory Materials 



Hardness Test for Jour- 
nals and Pins. 

Properties and Compos- 
ition of Alloys. 

Flow of Steam through 
Nozzets. 



Heating of Buried Cab- 
les. 



Properties of Insulating 
Oils. 



Tool Steel Experiments 



Methods of Notched Bar 
Impact Testing. 



Institute of Chemistry. 



Do- 



Do. 



Institution of Gas En- 
gineers. 

Institution of Mechani- 
cal Engineers. 



Do. 



Do. 



do. 



do. 



Institute ' of Electrical 
Engineers. 



Do. 



do. 



Manchester Association 
of Engineers. 

Engineering Standards 
Committee. 



Laboratory of the Institute of 
Chemistry, King's College, 
London, and Professor Jack- 
son's private laboratory. 



Do. 



do. 



Stoke-on-Trent Central School 
of Science and Technology. 

National Physical Laboratory. 
Certain firms are co-operating. 

National Physical Laboratory. 



University of Manchester and 
Glasgow Royal Technical Col- 
lege. Certain firms are co- 
operating. 

National Physical Laboratory 
and University of Liverpool. 
Certain firms and public elec- 
tricity supply undertakings 
are co-operating. 

Manchester Municipal School 
of Technology. Certain firms 
are co-operating. 



Manchester Municipal School 
of Technology. 

National Physical Laboratory. 



36 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 



Research. 



Institution or Body 

responsible for the 

Research. 



Institutions, Laboratories, &c., 

at which the Research is, 

or will be, conducted. 



Corrosion of Nonferrous 
Metals. 



Optical Glass 
Glass Technology 

Hard Porcelain 



Setting and Disintegra- 
tion of Salts and Cry- 
stalline Substances. 

De-gumming of Silk 



Tin and Tungsten 



Statistical Work in pre- 
paration of field for 
research in Iron and 
Steel 



Institute of Metals 



University of Liverpool. From 
1st October 1916, the research 
will be transferred to the Royal 
School of Mines (Imperial 
College of Science and Tech- 
nology), and the Brighton 
Corporation Electric Power 
Station. 



(ii) New Researches. 



National Physical Lab- 
oratory. 

Sheffield University Del- 
egacy for Glass Re- 
search. 

Joint Research Commit- 
tee of the Stoke Cen- 
tral School of Science 
and Technology and 
the Staffordshire Pot- 
teries Manufacturers' 
Association. 



Faraday Society 



Silk Association 



Institution of Mining 
and Metallurgy. 



Iron and Steel Institute 



National Physical Laboratory. 



Research Institute attached to 
the University of Sheffield. 



Research Institute attached to 
the Central School of Science 
and Technology, Stoke-on- 
Trent. 



Guy's Hospital Medical School 
and Mr. Bousfield's private 
laboratory. 

Imperial College of Science and 
Technology. Certain firms 
are co-operating. 

Royal School of Mines (Im- 
perial College of Science and 
Technology), privately owned 
laboratories and concentra- 
tion works of certain com- 
panies owning mines in Corn- 
wall. 

Offices of the Institute. 



I9i6] 



Industrial Research in Canada 



37 



Research. 



Institution or Body 

responsible for the 

Research. 



Institutions, Laboratories, &c., 

at which the Research is, 

or will be, conducted. 



Rate of Heat Transmis- 


National Physical Lab- 


National Physical Laboratory. 


sion from Hot Sur- 


oratory. 




faces to Fluids over 






them. 






Deterioration of Struc- 


Institution of Civil En- 


Various Ports throughout the 


tures of Timber, 


gineers. 


Empire, and laboratories (for 


Metal, and Concrete 




special investigations) as may 


in Sea Water. 




be required. 



38 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 

APPENDIX IV. 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL OF THE 
DOMINION OF CANADA APPROVED BY HIS ROYAL 
HIGHNESS THE GOVERNOR GENERAL ON THE 
6th JUNE 1916 

The Committee of the Privy Council have before them a report, dated 23rd May 
19 1 6, rom the Minister of Trade and Commerce, to whom was referred a despatch 
from the Right Hon. A. Bonar Law, Secretary of State for the Colonies, calling attention 
to a scheme of scientific and industrial research for the United Kingdom, as embodied 
in Parliamentary Paper Cd. 8005, attached hereto, and a copy of the Order in Council 
approving of the same. 

The Minister observes that this scheme, proposed by Mr. Arthur Henderson, con- 
templated the appointment of a Committee of the Privy Council which should be 
responsible for the carrying out of the same, and a small Advisory Council responsible 
to the Committee to be composed mainly of scientific men and men actually engaged in 
industries dependent upon scientific research. By Order in Council, 28th July 1915, 
effect was given to this scheme, and the Committee and Council proposed therein were 
appointed and their respective duties set out. The scheme was to be applied to the 
United Kingdom as a whole and was not intended in any way to interfere with the 
arrangements already made by the War Office and the Admiralty in respect to obtaining 
scientific assistance for the improvement of munitions of war, but was designed to 
establish a permanent organisation for the promotion of scientific and industrial re- 
search. 

The Minister observes that after this scheme had gone into operation, suggestions 
were made from various sources that it should be extended and made applicable to the 
Overseas Dominions or even to the Empire as a whole. These suggestions were ap- 
proved in principle by the Committee of Council, and a memorandum was prepared 
intimating certain preliminary steps that might be taken to bring about gradually co- 
operation of effort and co-ordination of research throughout the Empire. 

On the 20th January 1916 the Minister of Munitions caused to be distributed to 
educational institutions in the United Kingdom a circular letter inviting co-operation 
in the improvement and invention of appliances for the prosecution of warfare, and 
copies of the same were sent to certain universities in Canada. As a result these 
universities have given full information on the facilities they possess for carrying on 
research work in respect to the specific purpose of the Minister of Munitions. They 
express willingness also to co-operate and assist in the work of industrial research, and 
are of the opinion that some department of the Government of Canada should under- 
take to co-ordinate and supervise this work and act as a medium of communication. 

The Minister desires to point out the urgent necessity of organising, mobilising and 
encouraging the existing resources of industrial and scientific research in Canada with 
the purpose of utilising waste products, discovering new processes — mechanical, chem- 
ical and metallurgical — and developing into useful adjuncts to industry and commerce 
thei unused natural resources of Canada. At no period has the importance of such united 
and thorough action been so evident as since the conditions brought about by the war, 
when the scarcity of certain compounds and processes has caused confusion and paraly- 
sis in industries and greatly added to cost of living. Canada has educational and 
scientific institutions more or less well equipped for conducting this research, which 
have already done much along their several lines and are willing and anxious to equip 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada. 39 

themselves for doing more. There are also private, corporate and Government labor- 
atories, more or less engaged in research work. The Manufacturers' Associations are 
alive to the importance and absolute necessity of such work in relation to the industries 
of the country and are anxious to co-operate in and support it . 

What seems to be immediately urgent is to have some method of co-ordination and 
direction which shall combine the efforts of all, along the lines for which each is best 
adapted and which would tend to avoid duplication and promote efficiency of action. 
To this end the Minister has been more or less in continuous communication and con- 
ference with representatives of the Universities, the Canadian Manufacturers' Associa- 
tion and the scientific institutions The consideration thus given has resulted in a 
practical unanimous agreement both as to the hecessity of immediate action and as to 
the lines along which it should be taken. 

The Minister, therefore, recommends the appointment of a Committee of Council 
to consist of the Minister of Trade and Commerce, the Minister of the Interior, the 
Minister of Mines, the Minister of Inland Revenue, the Minister of Labour, and the 
Minister of Agriculture, which shall be charged with, and responsible for, the expen- 
diture of any moneys provided by Parliament for scientific and industrial research, and 
also an Honorary Advisory Committee, responsible to the Committee of Council, to be 
composed of nine members, representative of the scientific and industrial interests of 
Canada, who shall be charged with the following duties — 

(c) To consult with all responsible bodies and persons ■ arrying on scientific and 
industrial research work in Canada with a view to bringing about united 
effort and mutual co-operation in solving the various problems of scientific 
and industrial research which from time to time present themselves: 
(&) To co-ordinate as far as possible the work so carried on so as to avoid over- 
lapping of effort, and to direct the various problems requiring solution into 
the hands of those whose equipment and ability are best adapted thereto: 
(c To select the most practical and pressing problems indicated by industrial 
necessities and present them when approved by the Committee to the 
research bodies for earliest possible solution. 
{d) To report from time to time the progress and results of their work to the Minis- 
ter of Trade and Commerce as Chairman of the Committee of Council. 
That a competent Secretary be appointed on the nomination of the Committee and 
paid by the Department of Trade and Commerce. 

That the travelling expenses of the Committee shall be paid by the Department 
of Trade and Commerce. 

The Committee concur in the foregoing and submit the same for approval. 

RODOLPH BOURDEAU, 

Clerk of the Privy Council. 



4© Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 

APPENDIX V. 

MEMORANDUM ON THE SUGGESTIONS MADE BY THE GOVERNMENTS 
OF .VICTORIA AND NEW SOUTH WALES FOR MAKING THE 
SCHEME FOR THE ORGANIZATION AND DEVEL- 
OPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND IN- 
DUSTRIAL RESEARCH APPLICABLE 
TO THE WHOLE EMPIRE. 

1. The Committee of the Privy Council for Scientific and Industrial Research have 
considered the papers communicated to them by the Secretary of State for the Colonies 
on the 23rd November 1915 and the 3rd January 1916, including memoranda by the 
Minister of Public Works of Victoria, and by the Honourable Premier for New South 
Wales. It is suggested in these memoranda that the scheme described in the White 
Paper issued by Mr. Arthur Henderson on the 23rd July 1915 [Cd. 8005], and sub- 
sequently embodied in the order in Council of the 28th July 19 15 (which is reprinted 
as an appendix to this moremandum), should be extended and made applicable to the 
Overseas Dominions, or even to the Empire as a whole 

2. In the memorandum by the Minister of Public Works of Victoria, special stress 
is laid on the statement made in paragraph 3 of the White Paper that — 

"it is clearly desirable that the scheme should operate over the Kingdom as a 
whole with as little regard as possible to the Tweed and the Irish Channel. The 
research done should be for the Kingdom was a whole, and there should be 
complete liberty to utilise the most effective institutions and investigators as 
available, irrespective of their location in England, Wales, Scotland, or Ireland." 
The Committee of the Council have no hesitation in expressing their concurrence 
in the view that the principle of the passage above cited is capable of a much wider 
application, and so far as in them lies, they are prepared to co-operate cordially with the 
Secretary of State in promoting such an arrangement between the Mother Country and 
the Overseas Dominions as would secure the effective application of the principle 
throughout the Empire. A complete and effective system of research implies the 
power to carry out each piece of work in the place where the conditions are most favour- 
able and where it can be performed most thoroughly, quickly, and economically. It is 
obvious that a reciprocal arrangement by which the scientific and industrial resources 
of the Mother Country in men, material, and equipment could be made available for a 
research in which any of the Dominions was primarily interested, and which conversely 
would place the resources of the Overseas Dominoins at the disposal of the Mother 
Country and of each other, would greatly augment the aggregate research capacity 
of the Empire and enhance the productivity of its industries. 

3. The simplest form of Imperial co-operation would be an arrangement by which 
one Government (or some administrative body acting under its authority) would act 
as the agent of another Goverment for the purpose of arranging, carrying out, and 
supervising a specific research, the entire cost being borne by the Government initiating 
the research. It is not outside the existing powers of the Committee of the Privy 
Council to aid a research intended to benefit a British industry, even though the research 
may be conducted beyond the borders of the United Kingdom. For instance, the best 
means of recovering a metal found in one of the Overseas Dominions and needed for the 
production of some new alloy required by the British Metallurgical or Engineering 
Industry, might form the subject of a research conducted in that Dominion at the 
instance and at the cost of the Committee of Council. For this purpose their Advisory 



1916] Industrial Research in Canada. 41 

Council would naturally try to find some body or institution in the Dominion willing, 
as the Committee's agent, to arrange for and supervise the actual execution of the 
research. Conversely, there is no reason why the Committee of Council or their 
Advisory Council should not act as the agent for an Overseas Government (or for any 
body or institution acting under the authority of the Government), for the purpose of 
arranging and carrying out on its behalf and at its cost any research which could more 
conveniently or effectively be conducted in the Mother Country. For instance, it may 
be worth while for an Overseas Dominion to defray the cost of a research in the Mother 
Country into the best method of utilising an earth or metal which is found inthe Domin- 
ion but for which there is not at present a sufficient market in the Mother Country, 
with a view to creating such a market. 

4. If, however, an effective agency arrangement were established between different 
parts of the Empire, it is highly probable that this relation would quickly develop into a 
more intimate and a more highly organised relation. The scope and methods of modern 
scientific research, especially when it is directed to the solution of the practical problems 
of trade and industry, are such as often to require the combined efforts of many workers 
in many places, involving a co-ordinated division of labour, and a series of investiga- 
tions into problems arising at many points in the process between the raw material and 
the finished product. When the raw material is produced, and especially where it is 
grown, in one part of the world and manufactured in another, a satisfactory solution 
of the series of problems with which the industry is confronted will often require con- 
current and concerted investigation in both countries. For instance, wheat, cotton, 
silk, rubber, and wool offer a number of distinct though related problems which in- 
timately affect more than one of the constituent parts of the Empire, and which can be 
most effectively dealt with by simultaneous and co-ordinated investigation in different 
parts of the world. In such cases, moreover, it is not at all likely that the commercial 
interests of the two countries in the results of the different parts of the research will be 
so distinct as to admit of separate valuation of and separate payment for the work 
actually done for each country. The character of modern organized research, and the 
character of modern commerce and industry, are in fact such as to render it almost 
inevitable that a relation which starts as one of reciprocal agency between different 
parts of the Empire should lead to a more definitely co-operative relation of "joint 
venture" or "limited partnership." Under such an arrangement two or more parts 
of the Empire would combine to frame a scheme for the investigation of a specific prob- 
lem in which they were all jointly interested, would contribute in agreed proportion 
to the cost of the whole work, and would arrange between themselves for the distribution 
of the work among the laboratories, factories, & c, at the disposal of the contributories 
for the supervision of the work and for the collection, statement, and use of the results 
achieved. 

5. It is not inconceivable that in the future the relations of agency or "joint venture" 
may lead to a still more extensive and comprehensive partnership or union of interests. 
The White Paper already referred to declares, at the end of paragraph 3, with reference 
to the United Kingdom, that "there must be a single fund for the assistance of research 
under a single responsible body." The question whether it would be practicable to 
extend this principle to the whole Empire by the constitution of a Central Body for the 
purpose of administering a common fund supported by contributions from the United 
Kingdom and Overseas Dominions, raises issues with which the Committee of Council 
are not competent to deal. The "pooling" or consolidation of the resources of the Em- 
pire for the purposes of scientific research is a stimulating ideal, but though pure science 
is cosmopolitan and disinterested, it is in its application to trade and industry inevitably 



42 Transactions of the Royal Canadian Institute. [vol. xi 

effected by the divergent commercial interests of individuals and Governments, and the 
wide separation in space and the great diversity of the components of the British Empire, 
are still material considerations of which full account must be taken in thinking of any 
scheme for unified administration. 

6. The Committee of Council, however, bel ieve that even at the present time, when 
the energies of the Empire are so pre-occupied by the war, it is not only possible but 
very desirable to make an advance in the direction suggested by the Governments of 
Victoria and New South Wales. 

It may not be possible during the war to undertake, either at home or in the Over-* 
seas Dominions, any researches involving the concerted work of a large number of 
trained researchers, or the provision of extensive plant and equipment. On the other 
hand, the Committee of Council are more than ever convinced that during the war it is 
essential to prepare and test, if only on a relatively small scale, an organisation by which 
the scientific resources of the Empire can be mobilised on a large scale immediately the 
war is over. The success of anything like an Imperial Scheme of Research must ultim- 
ately depend at least as much upon the skill, foresight, and care with which it is managed 
as upon the zeal and goodwill of the Governments, universities, and industries which 
co-operate in it; and it would be very imprudent to wait until the demand has become 
heavy and urgent in the hope of then improvising a satisfactory system of management. 

7. The Committee, therefore, suggest that if the general proposal commends itself, 
each Overseas Government which is willing to enter into a co-operative arrangement 
should, as a first step and at an early date, constitute some body or agency having 
functions analogous to those of the Advisory Council which acts for the United Kingdom. 

The Committee of Council have, of course, no intention of suggesting that the 
part cular arrangement adopted for the United Kingdom should be taken as a model 
by other parts of the Empire. The Committee of Council as originally constituted 
consists of six Ministers ex-officio and three ex-Ministers. This body is ultimately 
responsible for asking Parliament to furnish the necessary funds and for approving their 
expenditure. It is an essential part of the scheme that all proposals for research shall 
stand referred to an Advisory Council which is a relatively small body, mainly consisting 
of eminent scientific men and men actually engaged in industries dependent upon 
scientific research, and that this Council shall take full responsibility for the scientific 
and technical soundness of all research proposals recommended by them for State 
assistance. 

In the case of the Overseas Dominions the precise relation of any new body or agency 
to the Central or the State or Provincial Government, or to a particular Ministry, must 
obviously depend on local conditions and local preferences. It is, of course, assemed 
that it would be supported by the resources and influence of the Ministry of Commerce, 
as in the United Kingdom the resources and influence of the Board of Trade are available 
for working the scheme of research in its commercial and industrial relations. 

The Committee of Council, however, venture to lay stress upon two points. First, 
any bodies or agencies instituted for the purpose should, under their respective Govern- 
ments, have really responsible functions and substantial authority. The several bodies, 
moreover, should be at liberty to communicate freely with one another, and should 
within the limits of the funds placed at their disposal, be empowered to negotiate with 
one another for the formation and execution of schemes of research. Secondly, a close 
connection should be maintained between these bodies and the public educational 
systems and institutions of their respective countries. It is obvious that the work 
of Universities and other institutions for advanced scientific and technological education 
will both affect and be affected by a State system of research, and that the systematic 



I9i6] Industrial Research in Canada. 43 

development of research must ultimately depend upon an adequate supply of men and 
women who are fitted by their training to undertake it. So far as the extended scheme 
or research involves consideration of the educational problems of different parts of the 
Empire, it would possibly form an appropriate subject for consideration at the next 
Imperial Educational Conference and the next Conference of the Universities of the 
Empire 

8. It is too soon for the Committee of Council to speak as to the working of the 
scheme which has been established in the United Kingdom. One of the most important 
functions of the Advisory Council is to promote a better understanding and a closer 
union between men engaged in science and in industry. Considerable use has already 
been made by the Advisory Council of sub-committees reinforced by suitable experts 
in particular branches of science or industry, such as were contemplated by paragraph 
8 of the White Paper, and arrangements are now being made to give effect to the 
principle of paragraph 7 of the White Paper by setting up certain representative Stand- 
ing Committees for the great scientific industries of Engineering, Metallurgy and 
Mining. 

9. The Committee of Council would gladly co-operate with the Secretary of State 
in establishing and conducting any central organisation which it may be found desirable 
to set up in London for the purpose of facilitating and carrying on the business of an 
Imperial Scheme of Research. Some kind of central office, information bureau, or clear 
ing house would be required, and, to start with, it might be possible to us , and, as 
occasion requires, to extend for this purpose the staff of the Advisory Council. A 
beginning has already been made by the Advisory Council in the compilation of a 
Register of Research, the scientific and industrial utility of which would be obviously 
greatly increased if its scope were extended to all parts of the Empire. 

10. No reference has been made in this memorandum to the research work which 
is already done on behalf of the Overseas and Exchequer-aided Colonies and Protector- 
ates by such institutions as the National Physical Laboratory and the Imperial College 
of Science and Technology, as well as by the laboratory of the Imperial Institute. Close 
relations between the Advisory Council and these institutions are being established, 
and it is, of course, assumed that in any extension of the Research Scheme to the Over- 
seas Dominions full use would be made of the facilities offered by these and similar 
institutions, and of the experience possessed by the bodies and persons concerned in 
carrying on their work. 



